TNW Sites

Grouper, the fresh dating startup named after an ugly fish, gets a handsome redesign

Grouper, no not that kind of grouper, is a relatively new entry in the dating space that brings together three guys and three girls (or all males/females) for drinks between separate groups of friends. A Grouper isn’t a blind date, but it’s not innocent, either. It’s like a serendipitous ice-breaker for all you single people out there.

The startup, which was founded in June 2011, is starting to receive quite a bit of attention for this idea, and has just recently expanded to 10 cities. Today, Grouper its debuting a fresh redesign that’s honestly worth a look for everyone…whether you’re playing the field or not, and especially if you run a startup. See it live here.

Grouper is far from being the only startup with a fresh design, but its Web typography looks so good that it’s worth a bit of praise (it’s bold Proxima Nova, believe it or not). It’s a great piece of inspiration for a simple and modern site, even if it follows a rather standard format.

The on-boarding process isn’t too rough either — especially when compared to the startup’s original design. Grouper’s CEO had this to say about the company’s goals for the redesign:

One of our goals at Grouper is to use your online social networks to facilitate offline social interaction, and the 2.0 site was designed with this goal in mind. The old-school look and retro feel of the site reflect Grouper’s mission of getting back to basics and returning to what really matters: your offline friends and relationships. This is also a key reason why we designed the new site to be easier and faster to navigate, so that users can spend less time online and more time with their friends.

With a much cleaner look on its side, Grouper is clearly doing something right in a challenging space. If you’re in NYC, SF, DC, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, Miami, Philadelphia or Seattle, check out the site via the link below.